Lucerne is the most populous city in Central Switzerland, and a nexus of economics, transportation, culture, and media in the region. The city’s urban area consists of 19 municipalities and towns with an overall population of about 220,000 people. This city has long been a destination for tourists, owing to its location on the shores of Lake Lucern and its outflow, the river Reuss, within sight of the mounts Pilatus and Rigi in the Swiss Alps,. One of the city’s landmarks is the Chapel Bridge (German: Kapellbrücke), a wooden bridge first erected in the 14th century.
The village of Lungern lies 750 meters (2,460 ft) above sea level in the highest part of the canton of Obwalden, on the eastern shore of the Lake of Lungern and at the foot of the Brünig Pass. It is the highest village of the Sarneraa-Valley, in a basin open only to the north and surrounded on all other sides by steep and woody inclinations and rocks.
Quick Tips
When to travel: Peak tourist months are from May to July, but one can take a trip to Switzerland in any season, depending on their interests.
Language: The official languages are German, Italian, French.
Currency: Swiss Franc (CHF) 1$ =0,9 CHF 1€=1,1 CHF
Food Prices: Meal in a cheap restaurant=23 EUR, Meal for 2 People, Mid-range Restaurant=92 EUR
In addition, you can find more information about the visa here.
The Lucerne Culture and Congress Center was opened in 1998. The KKL, built according to the plans of the architect Jean Nouvel, is a multifunctional building in the city of Lucerne. The concert hall, valued for its acoustics, is the heart of the center.
The Meggenhorn is a castle residence on Lake Lucerne and a ship station of the Lake Lucerne Shipping Company. Geographically, Meggenhorn is the headland that protrudes into the lake and separates Lake Lucerne from Lake Küssnacht.
The Lungern Lake is a natural reservoir in the canton of Obwalden. The lake can be reached from the Brünig Pass or from Lucerne through the Sarneraa Valley. The town of Lungern and its districts of Kaiserstuhl-Bürglen and Obsee are located on the lake.
The Ballenberg Open-Air Museum is an open-air museum in Hofstetten near Brienz in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland. It shows 109 original historical buildings from all parts of Switzerland, native farm animals, original gardens and fields. Traditional handicrafts are shown in demonstrations. The Ballenberg course center is affiliated with it. Every summer, the Ballenberg Landscape Theater puts on a play in a historical setting.
The Reichenbach Falls is a 300 meter high cascade of seven waterfalls in the course of the Reichenbach in the municipality of Schattenhalb south of Meiringen in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. He is known for the dramatic ending of Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story The Last Trouble. The top Reichenbachfall is the largest.
The Aare Gorge is a gorge near Meiringen in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland. The Aare flows through it and increases its flow rate considerably. The Aare leaves the gorge at almost 12 km/h.
A good night’s sleep is particularly important when you are travelling. Both cities are offering for guests a host of luxurious, charming and also out-of-the-ordinary accommodation.
Whether in the heart of the city, near the lake or surrounded by nature – the hotels, B&Bs and guesthouses guarantee a relaxing and invigorating stay.
We managed to find the best three companies that offer hotels, holiday homes and transportation. These are: Booking.com,Trip.com and Vrbo. We have already tested these companies and we warmly recommend them. As a result this will just bring you good deals for your next vacation.
Luxury hotels : Grand Hotel National Luzern, Lucerne Lake View Apartments, Ferienhaus Lungern
Mid-range hotels : Hotel Des Alpes Lucerne, Altstadt Hotel Krone Lucerne,Emma’s Hotel Lungern.
Budget hotels: ROESLI Guest House Lucerne, Richemont Hotel Lucerne , Hotel Kaiserstuhl.
Food specialties and restaurants in Lucerne
Lucerne’s gastronomy shines with diversity. You can enjoy Swiss specialties and as well as imaginative gourmet menus from all over the world,whether in a cozy tavern or in a sophisticated restaurant.
The typical dishes of the city are: Zuppa di zucca: a famous typical pumpkin dish with toast and smoked bacon. Forellen: trout is the most famous fish dish in the city. Heusuppe: it is one of the simplest and most natural typical dishes of Lucerne.Its main ingredient is hay and then some mountain herbs.Lucernese gingerbread: traditional gingerbread. Glühwein-Mousse: this dessert is among the most famous in Lucerne. It is a mulled wine in the form of mousse. Its taste is amazing!
Swiss specialties restaurants: Des Alpes,Restaurant FloraAlpina(perfect for brunch as well),Gasthof Krone Blatten,Restaurant Gerbi ,Hofbeiz Hinter Musegg,Hotel Restaurant Hammer(perfect for brunch as well).
Italian specialties:basilico, Bellini Locanda Ticinese, Da Ernesto, La Perla.
Asian specialties: Gourmindia,Izakaya Nozomi,Jialu National, Li Tai Pe, Lido Beach House.
Family friendly / with children’s playground:Restaurant Alpenblick , Restaurant Balm Meggen, Restaurant Hermitage, Panorama Terrasse, Restaurant Bündnerland.
Restaurants in Lungern:
Regional specialities,Swiss cuisine :Restaurant Cantina Caverna,Hotel & Restaurant Kaiserstuhl,Restaurant Turren, Restaurant Bahnhöfli, Elliott`s Cafe, bar and more, Restaurant + Camp Obsee
Burger,Fondue : Ausflugsrestaurant Turren, Bergrestaurant Mörlialp, Gasthof zur Post, Restaurant Bärgbeizli Bidmi.
The Visitor Card Lucerne that comes for free with an overnight stay in one of the city’s hotels includes free use of buses and trains within the city (zone 10). If you get caught without a valid ticket, it’s 90 CHF.Boat travel is free with Swiss GA card, Swiss Travel Pass etc. and 50% discounted with Swiss Half fare card. Kids under age 6 get to travel for free.The Visitor Card is your best bet in the travel pass choice bracket for Lucerne.
You get a lot of discounts on mountain railways, museums, cableways, excursions in zone 10 city network. These include 20% discount each on the Rigi Bahen, Stoosbahen, and Stanserhorn-Bahn. Plus, you get free Wi-Fi access in hotspots staggered throughout the city. Along with all this, you also get free use of train and bus (2nd class) within zone 10.
Or get a Swiss Travel Pass which is valid for all kinds of public transport (216 – 458Sfr, depending on duration) and free entry to many museums (www.swisstravelsystem.com). If you plan on travelling a lot in Central Switzerland and pay a visit to more than one of the famous mountains a Tell-Pass is a good option for you. Ask for advice at the train station.The Swiss Travel Pass is available for 3/4/8 and 15-day formats. The facilities include free tickets for bus, boat and train apart from discounted entry to museums and castles and discounts on mountain trips.
You can save some money in Lungern by buying a shopping voucher for Giod`s us Lungrä.You can redeem the shopping vouchers anywhere in Lungern that bear the signet “Welcome to Lungern Shopping Voucher”. BliomäMeitli GmbH, Brünigstrasse 56 is the place where you can buy it.
If you do not go by car and need to know more informations about the tours, things to see and do in Lucerne or Lungern, we recommend this two companies that are offering tours for any kind of activity you want to do and where you can buy trips much cheaper than if you buy them when you arrive at your destination. It is always good to be able to save some money!
When you think travel, think Orbitz ! They are one of the leading U.S. online travel websites, offering a full range of travel products and services. They got everything from flights, hotels, and car rentals to cruises, travel insurance, and destination services from suppliers worldwide.
Shopping in Lucerne
For a town which is – after all – not very big, Lucerne has a surprisinglywide range of shopping options. If you’re buying watches, Lucerne can match or even top most larger destinations. But there is also an impressive range of fashion boutiques, some well stocked with the international luxury brands, while others focus on lesser known, carefully chosen Swiss and international designers.
Being Switzerland, chocolates and other fine food products are well represented too.The two major shopping areas are in the old town between Schwanenplatz on the lake and Mühlenplatz to the west, and in the Neustadt (the ‘new town’) between the railway station and Hirschengraben street.But if you are shopping in Lucerne then no worries because this city will take care of the shopaholic and the prudent spender versions of you at the same time.
The regional network is coded into zones and Lucerne city stands for zone 10. So if you are just going to explore the city and its famous neighbours (Littau, Kriens, Meggen, Emmenbrucke etc.) then just buy a combined ticket for zone 10. This is probably all you will need as the bus transport to cable car valley-station (Pilatus) is also within this zone.
A day pass for zone 10 valid for a calendar day costs 8.20Sfr (half-fare 6.20Sfr), a single ticket valid for 1 hour 4.10Sfr. Children under 6 travel for free, 6 – 16 year-olds pay the so-called half-fare (which actually is 3.10Sfr). Short distance tickets for up to 6 stops within half an hour are 2.50 (no half-fare).
All these tickets can be purchased with cash or credit cards at the ticket machines you find at almost every stop (switch to English on the first screen).A multi-day ticket (basically 6 single-day tickets) will cost 46.80 euros. If you want to do extensive sightseeing then buying a multi-zone ticket is good. For example, you will need a multi-zone ticket covering both zone 10 and zone 23 if you want to explore Matters Lucerne route. The 2 zone ticket prices start from 59 euros. More information about Tickets & Passes is given under the next major heading below.
The Visitor Card Lucerne that comes for free with an overnight stay in one of the city’s hotels includes free use of buses and trains within the city (zone 10).There are night buses called nachtstern (www.nachtstern.ch) on Fri/Sat and Sat/Sun nights to surrounding areas (like Kriens or Littau), which leave from the main train station. The tickets for 7Sfr or 10Sfr can only be bought from the driver. Day passes and any other tickets aren’t valid.
There is an app called Fairtiq and you can use it to buy public transport tickets in Lucerne.
In city transport, a trolleybus is a good option. This has replaced the tram system of Lucerne in 1961. The network is run by VBL and has 6 lines that not only cover the city thoroughly but also run to nearby towns of Horw, Emmem and Kriens. About 92 buses, 74 trolleybuses on 25 daytime routes run in Lucerne. All information is available on the VBL website and the combined travel tickets work here.
A great way to see Lucerne is to take a hop on hop off boat tour or a Lake Lucerne cruise (there are 1/2/3 hour versions). Some tours have an audio guide and some have food and wine offerings.
The tickets are available at the Lucerne pier (a few steps away from the main train station) or at the SBB, Rigi Bahnen, Pilatus Bahnen, Tourist Office Beckenried, Treib Seelisberg Bahn etc. The last 3 mentioned mountain rail offices sell combi tickets for the boat and mountain trip that’s a good value.
Getting to Lucerne
Lucerne doesn’t have an international airport so if you are flying in then it’s better to fly into Zurich airport. Not only is the Zurich airport nearest to Lucerne but it also offers the best international connectivity. From Zurich airport to Lucerne it’s a 67 km journey that will roughly take 55 minutes by car. There are no direct flights to Lucerne and the the other options would be Basel-Mulhouse Freiburg airport, but you will need more time to get to Lucerne from Basel, or other option is to fly into Berne Airport that’s 124 km away.
Lucerne can be reached by train,car or bus.
With a view to making your trip planning process easier, we have gathered the most relevant info about the closest airports to Lucerne.
Most passengers are arriving in the country aboard flights operated by Vueling, United, Turkish Airlines, Thai Airways, Tap Air Portugal, Swiss International, SAS, LOT, Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa, Korean Air, Iberia, Finnair, Edelweiss, Emirates, Easy Jet, Delta, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, American Airlines, Qatar and land in Zurich airport that is receiving the highest volume of travelers flying from overseas.
Transport links from the airport to central Zürich and from Zürich main station to Lucerne are frequent –departing every twenty minutes- and run during the night time too. The journey from the airport to the city center takes 45 minutes on average. Swiss Railways (SBB/CFF/FFS) operates a train from Zürich HB to Luzern every 30 minutes. Tickets cost CHF 23 – CHF 45 and the journey takes 41 min. Alternatively, you can easily board a regional bus to reach Lucerne. There will be at least 1 change though as there are no direct buses.
Getting to Lungern
You can travel 19 miles (31 km) by car or train to Lungern from Lucerne. The most popular travel companies which serve this journey are SBB among others. It will take 37 minutes to get in Lungern by train and the average ticket will cost around € 16.
You can also fly to Bern and from the airport in Bern you can reach the train station by bus 160, and the ticket costs between 4 and 6 euros.Also there is an airport shuttle which takes u right to the center (main train station), which u could give 20 min to half an hour to reach. From here you can travel by train to Lungern. It takes an average of 2 hours and the ticket costs between 40 and 89 euros.
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
Comment *
Name *
Email *
Website
Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
Post Comment
Δ
created with